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Obama’s November loss weakens U.S. abroad

Since the midterms, nations have raised their price for cooperating with the president. |
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North Korea, like Iran, senses that the United States is militarily overstretched internationally and is on weak economic legs at home. It watched China prevail in a symbolic test of wills over Japan in the Senkakus and watched South Korea take away the prize Obama had expected of a free trade deal.

North Korea is moving its interests forward while it senses weakness from the combined front of South Korea, Japan and the US.

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While Obama’s post-election trip to Indonesia, India, Japan and South Korea was meant, in part, to signal Beijing that Washington could encircle it, would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with these countries in future competitions of power and could constrain China’s options, North Korea decided to test that proposition – both on its own and China’s behalf.

North Korea, at least thus far, has punctured the Obama bubble in Asia. Affairs in the Asian-Pacific are far less stable than they were before the president and many members of his Cabinet, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, invested so heavily in trying to convince the region that betting on the United States was a bet on stability.

Washington’s global situation has become relatively weaker and it is likely to be tested repeatedly in zero sum challenges to its interests – particularly when its proxies, like Japan and South Korea, are there to be the punching bags.

To restore its options and its ability to shape the international system, Washington has to decide what it is going to be in the 21st century. Exactly what are its strategic goals? And what is it willing to gamble to achieve them?

No matter what course Washington chooses, it is going to have to replenish its stock of power, revitalize its economy and show that it can affect international change. Perhaps it can attain some low hanging fruit in the international system -- like normalizing relations with Cuba, or delivering on the New START Treaty with the Russians.

All these should be relatively doable, and would help give Washington some momentum again in its international game. But even these policies are paralyzed today by the divisiveness of U.S. politics and the perception of Obama’s weakness.

Given that even the easy stuff looks nearly impossible right now, it’s easy to understand why there is growing concern among America’s key allies about the solvency of U.S. economic and strategic commitments. And why a country like North Korea feels it has little to lose by putting its neighbors -- and the world -- on edge.

Steve Clemons is founder and senior fellow of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and publishes the political blog, The Washington Note.

Readers' Comments (25)

You can surely shorten this title from "OBAMA'S NOVEMBER LOSS WEAKENS U.S. ABROAD" to "OBAMA WEAKENS U.S. ABROAD". It's a title that has been valid every day since he was elected.

Even his so-called successes have been nothing but attacks on the US military (global nuclear WMD), the US economy (health care, stimulus bills, deficits, borrowing, etc.) or the unity of the country (extreme partisanship).

The only positive accomplishments he has to his credit are the unification of the Republican party and the creation of the tea parties.

You right wing brainwashers are so far gone it's not even funny.... The entire World ( except for Al Queda and it's supporters ) was very excited and happy about President Obama's election, even gave him a little thing known as The Nobel Peace Prize, what has hurt the perception of our Nation has been the rhetoric and belligerent attitude of hard line neo-cons and right wing zealots, who have now undermined the sitting President of The United States of America! As so many of you are fond of saying "elections have consequences", this is one of them, admit it right wingers! You are hurting the Image and influence of the United States! I've seen some of the same posters here arguing for not ratifying the START treaty, that is the type of thing that makes the U.S. look weak and vulnerable to other countries! I do not agree with President Obama on many issues, but he is the President, and anyone who says they want to hurt him or limit his ability to govern is in essence saying they want to hurt America.... why Mitch McConnell isn't in prison facing charges for aiding and abetting America's enemies is beyond me.

You right wing brainwashers are so far gone it's not even funny.... The entire World ( except for Al Queda and it's supporters ) was very excited and happy about President Obama's election, even gave him a little thing known as The Nobel Peace Prize, what has hurt the perception of our Nation has been the rhetoric and belligerent attitude of hard line neo-cons and right wing zealots, who have now undermined the sitting President of The United States of America! As so many of you are fond of saying "elections have consequences", this is one of them, admit it right wingers! You are hurting the Image and influence of the United States! I've seen some of the same posters here arguing for not ratifying the START treaty, that is the type of thing that makes the U.S. look weak and vulnerable to other countries! I do not agree with President Obama on many issues, but he is the President, and anyone who says they want to hurt him or limit his ability to govern is in essence saying they want to hurt America.... why Mitch McConnell isn't in prison facing charges for aiding and abetting America's enemies is beyond me.

What a frigin joke ! I can't believe you spent the time to write the dribble above. I will address just the first item above fore lack of time and or waste there of. The whole world did love obama. He is weak. That's it as simple as it gets. They WANT AMERICA WEAK. Your ignorance amazing.

The U.S. could lose its valued northern ally if Canada chooses to go socialist. Combined, the country's three leftist parties -- the New Democratic Party, the Bloq Quebecois and the Green Party -- are polling much better than either the centrist Liberals or rightist Conservatives. To learn more, please read "Can Canada's divided left seize power?" on www.WRISEUP.COM.

Obama was quickly recognized among foreign leaders as weak and naive in his first year in office.Our adversaries concluded that our feckless president lacked the depth,experience,perspective and judgment to be a strong leader.His apologia tours,his personal arrogance and ego all combined to demonstrate his tragic incompetence on the world stage. The November election was a personal rebuke of our president and the Congress by the American people. We were already weakened abroad and the evidence of damage is everywhere.

You right wing brainwashers are so far gone it's not even funny.... The entire World ( except for Al Queda and it's supporters ) was very excited and happy about President Obama's election, even gave him a little thing known as The Nobel Peace Prize, what has hurt the perception of our Nation has been the rhetoric and belligerent attitude of hard line neo-cons and right wing zealots, who have now undermined the sitting President of The United States of America! As so many of you are fond of saying "elections have consequences", this is one of them, admit it right wingers!

What planet have you been living on for the last year and a half. You are correct that many leaders in the world were happy when Obama first got elected. My how that situation has changed. Obama is a joke on the world stage. The spanking that he received at the last few G summit type meetings was an embarassment. Obama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize before he was even sworn into office. Please tell us just one thing that the community organizer did before being sworn into office as president that would qualify him to win a peace prize.

The comment "what has hurt the perception of our Nation has been the rhetoric and belligerent attitude of hard line neo-cons and right wing zealots, who have now undermined the sitting President of The United States of America!" is pathetically laughable. Were you in a coma during the Bush years? I guess some of you people have really bought into the line that if you tell a lie often enough it is perceived as the truth.

The world is waking up to the fact that Obama can't deliver on his promises. He bought support in in climate meeting and can't get funding to make good. His Obamacare is requireing radical fixes and billions more dollars because he oversold and lied.

The stimulus didn't so we need to do it all over again with the tax bill lighting up like a Christmas tree with pork and paybacks for favored donors. We are spending ourselves into the third world and nations want more up front before they make any deals.

Must be time to flea DC for the friendly skys in his big flying toy leaving the worst carbon footprint in history of any world leader. The only problem with that is he is running out of places willing to pay for his security and once he is reduced to high school cafetoriums there may not be room for his teleprompter so he will stumble and mis-speak....again.

Sorry to resort to the facts, but let's take a quick look at the facts on which Ben Smith's conclusion that the Israeli tail is wagging the American dog is based.

In 1947, Israel agreed to a truncated state far smaller than the one promised to it in the League of Nations Mandate, and agreed to give up Jewish access to the Western Wall; in 1956, Israel withdrew from Sinai which gave the anti-US Nasser a huge tailwind and led to the 1967 attempt to destroy Israel; between 1948 and 1967, Israel suffered daily assaults, shelling and terrorist attacks from Egypt and Syria without making any meaningful response; in 1967, Israel waited excruciating weeks and dug thousands of graves for its civilians in the parks of Tel Aviv before defending itself from Arab encirclement and the closure of its international waterway; in 1969, Israel ignored massive Egyptian violations of the cease-fire agreement; in 1970, Israel responded to US requested that it protect Jordan from the Syrian invasion during Black September; in 1973, Israel did not call up its reserve units to meet the massive Syrian and Egyptian surprise attack on a more even footing; between 1970 and 1982, Israel suffered repeated artillery and missile attacks and terrorist outrages launched by Palestinians from Lebanon without responding the way any other country would in the circumstances; in 1991, in a war which did not involve it, Israel was hit by dozens of Iraqi ballistic missiles and its entire population hid in sealed rooms, wearing gas masks 45 years after the Holocaust, without making any response at all; since 1993, Israel has suffered an ongoing terrorist campaign of Palestinian missiles and suicide bombers and has stayed at the negotiating table; during that same period, Israel has ignored the clear Palestinian statements that their intention is to destroy Israel, either through terrorism, overwhelming Israel though the "Right of Return," or international de-legitimization, including having Israel thrown out the UN, and has stayed at the negotiating table; During that same period, Israel has ignored the ongoing Palestinian policy of physically destroying or just plain denying historical Jewish links to its homeland and ongoing denial of the Holocaust, and has stayed at the negotiating table; in 2006, Israel ignored the clear vote of the Palestinians for Hamas, an organization openly devoted to denying the Jewish People its Right to Self-Determination; Israel has withdrawn from territory and taken people by force from their homes and has called repeatedly for a negotiated resolution of the century long regional assault on the Jewsih people in its ancestral homeland; from 2000 until 2009, Israeli cities were hit by thousands of Palestinian missiles launched from Gaza without any serious response.

And so on and so on. And all of this has been done as Israel's part in maintaining the strategic partnership with the US. In the 62 years it has been in existence, Israel has had just one month in which not a single Israeli was killed or wounded by the ongoing regional assault against its existence and Israel's graveyards are filled with the price that Israel pays every day as its part of the friendship with the US. So, sorry, to say that Israel doesn’t listen to what the US says just isn’t borne out by the facts.

Sorry to resort to the facts, but let's take a quick look at the facts on which Ben Smith's conclusion that the Israeli tail is wagging the American dog is based.

In 1947, Israel agreed to a truncated state far smaller than the one promised to it in the League of Nations Mandate, and agreed to give up Jewish access to the Western Wall; in 1956, Israel withdrew from Sinai which gave the anti-US Nasser a huge tailwind and led to the 1967 attempt to destroy Israel; between 1948 and 1967, Israel suffered daily assaults, shelling and terrorist attacks from Egypt and Syria without making any meaningful response; in 1967, Israel waited excruciating weeks and dug thousands of graves for its civilians in the parks of Tel Aviv before defending itself from Arab encirclement and the closure of its international waterway; in 1969, Israel ignored massive Egyptian violations of the cease-fire agreement; in 1970, Israel responded to US requested that it protect Jordan from the Syrian invasion during Black September; in 1973, Israel did not call up its reserve units to meet the massive Syrian and Egyptian surprise attack on a more even footing; between 1970 and 1982, Israel suffered repeated artillery and missile attacks and terrorist outrages launched by Palestinians from Lebanon without responding the way any other country would in the circumstances; in 1991, in a war which did not involve it, Israel was hit by dozens of Iraqi ballistic missiles and its entire population hid in sealed rooms, wearing gas masks 45 years after the Holocaust, without making any response at all; since 1993, Israel has suffered an ongoing terrorist campaign of Palestinian missiles and suicide bombers and has stayed at the negotiating table; during that same period, Israel has ignored the clear Palestinian statements that their intention is to destroy Israel, either through terrorism, overwhelming Israel though the "Right of Return," or international de-legitimization, including having Israel thrown out the UN, and has stayed at the negotiating table; During that same period, Israel has ignored the ongoing Palestinian policy of physically destroying or just plain denying historical Jewish links to its homeland and ongoing denial of the Holocaust, and has stayed at the negotiating table; in 2006, Israel ignored the clear vote of the Palestinians for Hamas, an organization openly devoted to denying the Jewish People its Right to Self-Determination; Israel has withdrawn from territory and taken people by force from their homes and has called repeatedly for a negotiated resolution of the century long regional assault on the Jewsih people in its ancestral homeland; from 2000 until 2009, Israeli cities were hit by thousands of Palestinian missiles launched from Gaza without any serious response.

And so on and so on. And all of this has been done as Israel's part in maintaining the strategic partnership with the US. In the 62 years it has been in existence, Israel has had just one month in which not a single Israeli was killed or wounded by the ongoing regional assault against its existence and Israel's graveyards are filled with the price that Israel pays every day as its part of the friendship with the US. So, sorry, to say that Israel doesn’t listen to what the US says just isn’t suported by the facts.

Ben Smith's analysis has the de rigueur swipe at the great influence of the American Jewish Lobby. But, I've always wondered, if the Jews control US Middle East policy, is this really what they want it to look like?

I have a riddle also – Jews vote overwhelmingly Democratic but polls show that overall, Democratic identifying voters are far less likely to approve of pro-Israel US policies. So, if the Jews aren’t using the regular political methods to control US Middle East policy, how are they doing it? Maybe magic?